After he deposed Gough Whitlam, Fraser’s reputation on the left appeared to be beyond redemption.
Photograph: AAP

Malcolm Fraser died in the early hours of 20 March, 2015. He was 84. He will be missed by millions of Australians. In the couple of hours after his death was announced, I received messages of grief and condolence from many people who have always associated themselves with Labor. It’s a remarkable phenomenon, and one which characterises his life after he left parliament. I have not heard from any of my friends who count themselves as Liberal supporters.

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In 1975, Fraser made himself deeply unpopular with Labor and its supporters, when he engineered and executed the dismissal of Gough Whitlam. His reputation on the left appeared to be beyond redemption.

It was another quarter of a century before those who had so reviled him came to see him differently. In 2001 he trenchantly criticised the Howard government for its stance on the Tampa affair and pointed out that the party, which still calls itself Liberal, seemed to have been unduly influenced by the thinking of Pauline Hanson.

It should have been no great surprise that Fraser was so passionately involved in the struggle against the mistreatment of asylum seekers. He always had a profound concern for human decency and human rights. One of his proudest achievements was the resettlement of almost 100,000 Vietnamese boat people who had fled the wreckage left after the Vietnam War. It was a tribute to his political skill that he overcame Whitlam’s initial opposition to the idea of resettling Vietnamese refugees in Australia, so the project proceeded with bipartisan support. With the benefit of hindsight, we can all see that Australia benefited greatly by Fraser’s vision and his passion to do what he thought was right.

In addition, Fraser’s welcoming of refugees was the first step in the practical implementation of a vision for a multi-cultural Australia. While Labor had dismantled the White Australia policy, it was Fraser who put the new approach into effect.

Whitlam’s dismissal cast such a shadow that it is easy to overlook that, in the same year of 1975, Fraser was lobbying the South African Government to investigate properly the death of Steve Biko. His support for human rights was unwavering. He vigorously opposed apartheid. His government introduced the first legislation for Aboriginal land rights. In 1987 he established Care Australia. In 2002 he established Australians All. He was a tireless critic of the mistreatment of asylum seekers.

Fraser often lamented the decline of Australian politics. After Tony Abbott assumed leadership of the Liberal party, Fraser resigned his membership. He was actively interested in the emergence of a new party based on small l liberal values – something which the self-styled capital L Liberal party has abandoned.

He was generally economical and astute in his observations. In about 2004, he and I were speaking on the same platform at a writers’ festival. I was asked to speak first. I ended my comments by observing that my most fervent wish was that the next Labor Prime Minister of Australia would be … Malcolm Fraser. It got a predictable laugh. Malcolm then went to the podium and thanked me for what I had said, but added: “Of course, it will never happen. I’m too far to the left for them”.

It’s a comment which was unquestionably accurate, and which explains a great deal. Today’s self-styled conservatives argue that Fraser shifted to the left. I do not think his political position changed very much since 1975. Certainly his position on human rights never changed.

But if Fraser’s position did not change much since 1975, Australia’s position certainly has: Australian politics has shifted so far to the right that Fraser ultimately became a hero of the self-styled left and a pariah among the self-styled Liberals.

His family are now lamenting his death: I hope they are able to take comfort from the scope and scale of his legacy. Fraser’s clear vision and unshakable resolve qualifies him as a true political leader in Australia’s history. Whitlam was another who could fairly be called a genuine political leader. He died in November 2014 and Fraser, once his political foe, went to his memorial service.

It is sad that the two giants are gone, because there are no political leaders left in Australia. Those who represent us in parliament today are midgets by comparison, and Australia is the poorer because of it.